Community colleges are what keep the American community together, especially while we’re in these jobless times. President Obama knows this and is making a vital spending initiative in favor of these valuable institutions. According to Reuters, the financial boost the President will give community colleges will be in the area of $ 12 billion, a move he feels is necessary in order to make America’s proportion of college graduates at the top of the international heap.

By 2020, President Obama wants America to be back at number 1, graduating most proportion of students out of any other developed country in the world. This cannot be done without the invaluable help of community colleges. The 10 year program hopes to yield an additional 5 million graduating students, a number that doubles the current degree of degrees.

Obama ran for president on three grounds: healthcare, energy conservation, and education. Strangely no one focuses on this third ground, although many feel it is the most important one to get us out of the crippling recession we’re in. What does education have to do with the staggering unemployment rate? As the President explained to the Congress in February, the fastest growing fields of employment require more than just a high school diploma. Yet, only have the population of the United States had graduated from high school. This correlation goes to the heart of our financial difficulties, one that Obama recognizes as America’s only trump card.

According to a recent report on the future of America’s economy and workforce, “Well-trained and highly-skilled workers will be best positioned to secure high-wage jobs, thereby fueling American prosperity. Occupations requiring higher educational attainment are projected to grow much faster than those with lower education requirements, with the fastest growth among occupations that require an associate’s degree or a post-secondary vocational award.”

Over 6 million students are enrolled in the thousand community colleges in the US. $9 billion of the funding Obama intends on making will go to giving grants to students on a competitive basis, a move the administration hopes will encourage more attendance. The balance of the money would be used for renovation and school materials so that the students will have the most fulfilling learning experiences possible.

Whoever controls the past, controls the future. The American people, the men and women on the ground, are the musicians of our national anthem. The trumpets that sing to battle our everyday struggle are determined by our determination. We played without much punch for quite a while, but now the president has heard the music of our demands – we want a better America. We expressed, perhaps, what we understood not. But the President does, and he has made the massive investment into our country’s education that will get us back to the star spangled rhythm that made America the greatest nation on Earth. Be a part of the anthem – get your degree from a community college today.